Elbow Lake
Clare County, Michigan24 acresView mapDirections
EGLE publishes the water-quality measurements for Elbow Lake. Here is what has been measured.
- 22 ft max depth
- Limited data
Elbow Lake in Clare County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 11 ft visibility. Surface area: 23.8 acres.
Elbow Lake is a 24-acre lake in Clare County, Michigan with an estimated average depth of about 22 feet.
Source: EPA Water Quality Portal sampling records, EGLE, last sampled 2023-10-11. Methodology: how these readings are compared.
What Elbow Lake is good for
From access and monitoring records, not editorial picks.
- Clear water11 ft of visibility
Swimming conditions
No readingLimited data
Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
Whether Elbow Lake is safe to swim in today is a call for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the county health department, who post current advisories. LakeQuality does not issue swimming clearances.
Water quality measurements for Elbow Lake
These are the measurements EGLE publishes for Elbow Lake, shown as reported. The condition class beside each reading is the EPA National Lakes Assessment class for this lake’s ecoregion.
Good clarity, visible to about 11 ft. TSI 43.
| Measure | Reading | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| Water clarity (Secchi depth) | 11ft | Measured, not scored How deep a black-and-white disk stays visible from the surface. Higher is clearer. |
| Total phosphorus | No reading The nutrient that most limits algae growth in freshwater. More phosphorus, more algae potential. | |
| Chlorophyll-a (algae) | No reading The green pigment in algae — a direct measure of how much algae is in the water. | |
| Trophic state (TSI)Carlson's 0–100 index of how much algae a lake can support, from clarity, phosphorus and chlorophyll-a. | 43 | Mesotrophic OligotrophicMesotrophicEutrophicHypereutrophic |
Moderate nutrients, good water quality
Ask about Elbow Lake
Answers come straight from the public measurements and survey records on this page.
Lake Details
Max depth
~22 ft est.
Surface area
24 acres
Depth marked “est.” is a modeled maximum from GLOBathy (Khazaei et al. 2022, CC0), not a measured survey. Michigan has not published bathymetry for Elbow Lake.
Lake Size & Watershed
Watershed (drainage) area
1 sq mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Shoreline
1 mi
HydroLAKES / HydroSHEDS
Elevation
1,161 ft
Size, shoreline, and watershed area from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS). Mean depth here is modelled, not surveyed — HydroLAKES v1.0 estimates lake depth from surrounding terrain rather than from soundings. Treat it as an approximation, and prefer a state bathymetric survey where one exists.
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Fishing Elbow Lake
Nearby Lakes in Clare County
Frequently asked questions about Elbow Lake
Where is Elbow Lake?
- Elbow Lake is a lake in Clare County, Michigan. Its water-quality measurements are published by EGLE and shown on this page as reported.
What is the water quality of Elbow Lake?
- Elbow Lake in Clare County, Michigan has water-quality measurements published by EGLE, shown here as reported. Water clarity: 11 ft visibility. Surface area: 23.8 acres.
Is Elbow Lake safe to swim in?
- Nutrient and algae readings are not a swimming clearance. Check local advisories before you swim.
How deep is Elbow Lake?
- No published bathymetric survey covers Elbow Lake, so its depth has not been measured. The HydroLAKES global model estimates an average depth of about 22 feet, but that is a modelled estimate derived from surrounding terrain rather than a measurement on the water, so treat it as approximate. The lake covers 23.8 acres.
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Where this data comes from
11 measurements from 1 monitoring station, 2023. Retrieved from the EPA Water Quality Portal on 2026-08-26.
Collected and reported by
- Michigan EGLE - MiCorps
21MICH_MICORPS11 samples · 2023
Monitoring station identifiers (1)
EPA condition classes from the National Lakes Assessment (EPA 841-R-24-006, Table 6-3), applied by ecoregion. See where the data comes from and data sources.
Other records on this page
Lake size & watershed from HydroLAKES (HydroSHEDS)